Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju (2018)

I wasn't planning to write a review but when I finished this drama and realised that so few people have watched this drama, I knew I definitely needed to write a review for this masterpiece.

To be honest, the only reason I picked up this drama was when I coincidentally saw the subtitles of this drama being updated on 27th July on Dramacool and came to mydramalist to find out that the drama had finished airing. The summary did not intrigue me, and the ratings didn't really interest me either since very few have rated this drama. But I decided to give it a try still as after some research, I found out that the anime version was really popular(I've never watched it though).

When I first started watching a few days ago, I had dropped this drama thrice in the first episode because it bored me so much. I kept moving onto other dramas and decided to come back to it today because most of the good dramas always pick up in the second episode, to name a few would be My Ahjussi, Strangers From Hell and much more. And I'm so glad that I came back, this drama completely caught my attention right at the very beginning of episode 2 and it just kept getting more and more intriguing. I finished bingeing the whole drama today, and am mindblown, it was that good.

I laughed, I smiled and I cried. I never cared nor knew what rakugo was about until I watched this drama. What first caught my attention was the mystery surrounding Konatsu's parents' death. I'm no newbie to mystery dramas but the way the story was told and shown left me wanting more. I also enjoyed watching all the rakugo scenes and even went to google some of the performances.

If I think back about it, the story itself wasn't that special except for the rakugo parts. But it was the way they told the story and it's characters which made a huge impression on me. And of course, the actors were amazing too, especially Okada Masaki. I've watched a lot of his dramas before but he never really caught my eye until this drama. My eyes followed him every time he was on screen. He's an actor I'm going to look out for in future dramas.

This is a severely underrated gem which I recommend everyone to give a try if you are looking for a unique story. If you are just here for the romance, then look elsewhere. Because here, you are going to learn about rakugo, friendship, what it means to be a family and different kinds of love.

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